Wastewater Report User Guide

Indiana Local Health Departments and Utility Partners

Published

Friday Oct 4, 2024 at 07:35 AM EDT

This guide provides instructions for interacting with and interpreting the wastewater reports available to Indiana Local Health Departments and participating wastewater utility partners. An example screenshot from each section of the report is shown below, with key features marked by numbers. Refer to the corresponding number in the Feature Definitions section for an explanation of the feature.

For additional information on the report contents, see the wastewater report Frequently Asked Questions page. For any remaining questions, please contact Dr. Jesse Knibbs at jknibbs@health.in.gov.

Report Header

The report header contains basic information about the contents of the report and helpful navigation tools.

  1. Report location label. This line denotes the jurisdiction that the report is displaying data for.
  2. Report timestamp. This label marks the date and time that the report was last updated.
  3. Report table of contents. This is a navigation bar that allows the user to jump to different sections in the report.
  4. State dashboard link. This hyperlink takes the user to the Indiana COVID-19 Wastewater Dashboard.

Wastewater Concentration Plot

This section of the report includes an interactive time series plot and indicators of SARS-CoV-2 wastewater concentration.

  1. Tab selector for wastewater plots. If the county contains two or more wastewater sites within its jurisdiction, this button allows the user to select which plot to view. If the only wastewater site in a county is permanently inactive (i.e. no longer submitting samples), then the concentration plot for the health district will be shown instead.
  2. Most recent sample date indicator. This box displays the date of collection for the last wastewater sample that has been uploaded. If this date is more than 14 days prior to the report date the site is deemed inactive. This box will appear red for an inactive site and green for an active site.
  3. Average normalized concentration indicator. This box displays the normalized wastewater concentration value as of the most recent sample. The value shown here is the same as the value at the end of the blue smoothed curve. The background color of this box scales from light red to dark red based on the magnitude of the most recent concentration relative to the max value for the location. The wastewater concentration is calculated by dividing the SARS-CoV-2 concentration by the concentration of Pepper mild mottle virus (PMMoV), which is a plant virus consistently detected in human fecal matter.
  4. Wastewater trend indicator. This box displays the trend in the wastewater samples over the last 21 days. The trend can be increasing, decreasing, or transitioning. The color of this box will be green for decreasing, red for increasing, and grey for transitioning. For more information on wastewater trends see the Wastewater Report FAQ Document or the Indiana wastewater dashboard.
  5. Plot interactive buttons. These buttons can be used to change the displayed data on the wastewater concentration plot.
  1. Download plot (camera icon): Allows the user to download the current plot as a png. The downloaded plot maintains the current plot settings and view. Clicking on this button immediately downloads a snapshot of the plot as newplot.png.
  2. Zoom (magnifying glass icon): Allows the user to zoom in on a particular window of time on the plot. Activating this button changes the function of the cursor when clicking on the plot. Clicking and holding anywhere on the plot then dragging the mouse to the left or right will highlight a window of data. Releasing the window will update the plot to only show the selected data. To zoom out, click on the button with the minus sign in the same button group.
  3. Pan (double arrow icon): Allows the user to change the time window of the displayed data. Activating this button changes the function of the cursor when clicking on the plot. Clicking on the plot and dragging to the left or right will shift the plot window horizontally, changing the displayed time window.
  4. Reset axes (house icon): Resets the plot axes to their default state. Double clicking on the plot will also reset any changes.
  1. Plot feature toggles. Each set of points or lines can be turned on or off by clicking on these buttons. By default, the Indiana state samples are turned off.
  2. Preliminary Period. The gray section on the right of the plot is the preliminary period. Wastewater data from the past 14 days is marked as preliminary because wastewater trends may fluctuate as more samples are submitted.
  3. Plot timeframe toggles. These buttons allow the user to change the timeframe of data displayed in the plot to preselected ranges. The default window is set to the last year of data from the report date.

COVID-19 Cases Plot

This section of the report includes an interactive timeseries plot and indicators of recent activity for COVID-19 cases.

  1. Location label. This line denotes the location that the case data represents.
  2. Last week recap. This box displays the number of COVID-19 cases during the past week in the report location. The relevant date range is listed.
  3. Change in cases. This box displays the difference in cases between the last week (shown in the leftmost box) and the week prior. A positive number indicates an increase in cases from week to week, and a negative number indicates a decrease in cases. The box will appear green for a decrease in cases and red for an increase in cases.
  4. Case total. This box displays the total number of COVID-19 cases in the report location since the beginning of the pandemic.
  5. Plot interactive buttons. These buttons can be used to change the displayed data on the COVID-19 cases plot.
  1. Download plot (camera icon): Allows the user to download the current plot as a png. The downloaded plot maintains the current plot settings and view. Clicking on this button immediately downloads the plot as newplot.png.
  2. Zoom (magnifying glass icon): Allows the user to zoom in on a particular window of time on the plot. Activating this button changes the function of the cursor when clicking on the plot. Clicking and holding anywhere on the plot and dragging up or down will highlight a window of data. Releasing the window will update the plot to only show the selected data.
  3. Reset axes (house icon): Resets the plot axes to their default state. Double clicking on the plot will also reset any changes.
  1. Plot timeframe toggles. These buttons allow the user to change the timeframe of data displayed in the plot to preselected ranges. The default window is set to the last year of data from the report date.

COVID-19 Deaths Plot

This section of the report includes an interactive timeseries plot and indicators of recent activity for COVID-19 deaths.

  1. Location label. This line denotes the location that the death data represents.
  2. Last week recap. This box displays the number of COVID-19 deaths during the past week in the report location. The relevant date range is listed.
  3. Change in deaths. This box displays the difference in deaths between the last week (shown in the leftmost box) and the week prior. A positive number indicates an increase in deaths from week to week, and a negative number indicates a decrease in deaths. The box will appear green for a decrease in deaths and red for an increase in deaths.
  4. Death total. This box displays the total number of COVID-19 deaths in the report location since the beginning of the pandemic.
  5. Plot interactive buttons. These buttons can be used to change the displayed data on the COVID-19 deaths plot.
  1. Download plot (camera icon): Allows the user to download the current plot as a png. The downloaded plot maintains the current plot settings and view. Clicking on this button immediately downloads the plot as newplot.png.
  2. Zoom (magnifying glass icon): Allows the user to zoom in on a particular window of time on the plot. Activating this button changes the function of the cursor when clicking on the plot. Clicking and holding anywhere on the plot and dragging up or down will highlight a window of data. Releasing the window will update the plot to only show the selected data.
  3. Reset axes (house icon): Resets the plot axes to their default state. Double clicking on the plot will also reset any changes.
  1. Plot timeframe toggles. These buttons allow the user to change the timeframe of data displayed in the plot to preselected ranges. The default window is set to the last year of data from the report date.

Report Notes

The notes section provides a brief summary of key information for each wastewater site or health district. Most reports will only have one location to display here.

  1. Location name. This line denotes the name or site code for the report location.
  2. Location status. This line indicates whether the report location is currently classified as active or inactive.
  3. Location trend. This line indicates the current wastewater trend label for the report location.